Scrambled Eggs at Midnight by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler

Eliot lives at a North Carolina bible camp for fat kids with his overly religious father and now distant mother. Things are bound to go wrong when your dad dedicates his whole life to God and money and tries to steer you through your teen years by spouting religious proverbs spontaneously. Enter, Calliope, the gorgeous redhead who has many problems of her own, some of which include a distant father, a self-centered jouster, and a mother who could care less about her own daughter. After one chance meeeting, Cal and Eliot feel a powerful connection and realize that maybe them being together was meant to be. They understand each other and are able to get past the other person's outside to the complex inside. With that kind of chemistry, only good things can happen right? Wrong. Almost everything that could go wrong does. Can Cal and Eliot work through all of the difficulties that are thrown their way and find a way to be together?

First of all, I just have to point out that the town of Olivia, Minnesota was mentioned in this book as being home to gigantic corn. When your name and your state are mentioned in a book, it has to be good, right? Right! Yay! This book really couldn't be much better. There were little plot confusions and character flaws, but basically, the story was amazing. It was original, quirky, enjoyable, funny, marvelous, and adorable. I especially loved the side character of Abel. I think he added a great other aspect to the story I think he was one of the guys that was written the best. He seems just like the kind of father figure that any of us would want. I also loved the two main characters of course, except for the fact that they were perfect! Sure, their situations had big problems, but they themselves couldn't seem to do anything wrong which was one of the tiny things that annoyed me, strangely. I want characters that do things wrong and make misakes. Instead, Eliot and Cal worked through all the problems with grace, realistic-ness, and perfection. Grr. Of course that could be counted as a good thing too because it just added to the overall flow and marvelousness of the book. One of the other things that I loved about this book was the chemistry that they had. You could tell that they were just meant to be together and I think that the two authors worked really well together in making that whole relationship seem realistic. All in all, I think that Scrambled Eggs At Midnight is your perfect summer read, full of fluff, romance, cuteness, and happiness. Go read it now.

Upper Class by Hobson Brown, Taylor Materne, and Caroline Says

Nikki is pretty much the spunkiest girl you will ever meet. She comes from a family with "new money" and has been sent to attend the prestigious Wellington boarding school to escape the bad influences of her friends back home. She's loud, sparkly, and utterly oblivious. Then we have Laine who is a Wellington girl from the start. She's more reserved than Nikki but knows her place at the school because she has had many of her family members attend and come out as bright politicians or blooming business owners. She's also the star of the field hockey team as only a sophmore so even though she has friends, she has enemies too. Both girls are trying to find their spot among the rich and rather snobbish kids that attend Wellington. But just surviving is harder than they expected. Will they be able to flourish at the academy or will they be just another entry in the The Crash Test book that records all the failures and dropout students who haven't had what it takes to make it?

Urgh. I think if I tried to write down all my thoughts in a single paragraph it would be both long, boring, and completely confusing. So for just this review I'm categorizing my thoughts into good and bad.

Good: TONS of description. For example, the first sentence reads as so; Outside the black window of the country club, moonlight glazes tiger lilies, dripping off the petals like cream. Doesn't that sound completely delicious? And their are many other sentences in the book that are as warm and sparkling as that one. I think I would've read the book just to be able to read nice sentences like that one. The story also has a nice and zippy plotline. Nothing ever stops for long and there's twist after twist to keep you coming back for more. There is also a character that I liked a lot who I think deserves a spot in the good category and that would be Nikki and Laine's woods instructor. I can't remember his name off the top of my head, but I liked him a lot.

Bad: And now we get to the juicy stuff. First of all, the characters were horrible. They were not developed at all and I really couldn't tell one person apart from the next, especially the boys and the parents. They just all blended together which makes a story completely suck. Also, Nikki and a guy supposedly had this relationship going on, but I really didn't see that. Sure they hook up in random scenes, but there was no dialog, no interaction, no chemistry, nothing to indicate that they actually liked each other. And characters without chemistry? Yuck. Also, the zippy plot was in the good category, but it should also be in the bad, because you could barely get your bearings before everything was mixed up again, making the whole entire book confusing and unorganized.

So I guess for the most part, Upper Class was a pretty bad book. I really liked the imagery, but other than that, it stunk. I don't think I'll be reading the next book. I have better things to do with my time.

Chasing Windmills by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Maria and Sebastian both come from different, but equally difficult backgrounds. Sebastian's dad has told him that his mother is dead and has tried to keep him protected and away from the world. Maria has two kids and is living with her abusive and explosive boyfriend. When they both take to riding the subways at night to get away from their lives, one moment of brief contact binds them together irrevocably. But figuring out how to make their relationship work throughout all of the unique problems that present themselves is going to be trying. Especially when Sebastian isn't officially an adult yet and Maria doesn't tell him about her kids until they're only days away from running off to live with Sebastian's grandmother in the desert. Can these two star crossed lovers figure out how to make it work when they have so many difficulties to face?

For the most part, this book was really good. The plot was interesting, the characters were beautifully written, and the writing was smooth and fit perfectly with the style of the book. And with all of those good aspects, you'd think it'd make for an amazing book, wouldn't you? And yet, while, it was a very good story, I just don't think that it did it for me so much. The beginning was rather slow and I just didn't feel like I could really relate to what was happening or even feel interested. Catherine Ryan Hyde does an amazing job at describing the setting though, and that was one of the things I appreciated the most about the book. Whether it's in New York or in the desert, you really feel like you're there which was one thing that made me think that perhaps the non-interesting parts of the story could be made up for a little bit. And they were. Even though I wasn't completely thrilled, I don't think that you could have too many hard feelings about Chasing Windmills just because of the lavish description and the endearing and realistic characters. As this was the second book of Catherine's that I've read, I think I stand the same place regarding both Chasing Windmills and Becoming Chloe. While I wasn't as blown away as I expected to be by either of them, they were still decent books that deserve to be read. Expect a good plot and beautiful writing, but don't expect to be flipping pages without reserve. These are the kind of books that are meant to be read slowly and studied, not raced through. And sadly, at least in Catherine Ryan Hyde's case, that's not really my kind of book, but I can still appreciate them. Maybe my opinion will change when I read The Day I Killed James, which I hope to get to in a few weeks or so!

Summer's Finally Here!

Today was unofficially my last day of school! I finished all my finals and tomorrow I just go to school to party with my friends and have barbecue and cookies. You don't know how relieved I am. I am completely looking forward to summer. It's a time for reading, swimming, reading, lemonade, reading, tanning, reading, and summer romance! What season's better? No school work, just glorious days of lazing around with no responsibilities. And it's a welcome break after the stress of finals week. But sadly, I'm only going to be able to relax for small parts of my summer. Here's what's going on with me:

~Junior Counseling at a little kids' camp out in the middle of the woods. At least there's moolah involved!

~My birthday! In less than two weeks! I'm so excited...

~I'm going out of the country for a month with no internet access! ( June 23 - July 20) Consider this advance warning for a whole entire month with no updates. Of course, I have a whole slew of delicious summer reads that are coming with me though, so expect quite a few reviews when I get back!

~A super amazing contest that I'm planning for after my return. It might possibly include book packs, book-ish paraphernalia, guessing games, and other trinkets. Stay tuned...

And that's about it. So even though summer is a time for relaxing, I don't think I'll be doing too much of that. I hope to get a ton of reading in though. *crosses fingers*

Fly On The Wall by E. Lockhart

Attending the Manhattan School for the Arts may seem like it would be cool and out of the ordinary. Where you could be anything you wanted. And for the most part, that's true. Except for Gretchen Yee, who's too normal for all of the crazy and abnormal kids at her school. One day, while she's busy drawing comic figures and thinking about that one special guy who never notices her, she absently wishes that she could be a fly on the wall of the boys' locker room. And then her wish comes true. Literally. She now has multiple pairs of legs, eyes in the back of her head, and wings. Yes, wings. Soon after taking notice of her new and gruesome body, Gretchen realizes what a cool thing this predicament could end up to be. She gets to watch hundreds of high school guys as they change. Wouldn't hordes of um...naked guys....be any girl's fantasy? And for a while, Gretchen's in heaven, but then she starts worrying. What if she's never able to get back into her own body and live a normal life again? What then?

After reading The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart I had high expectations for this book. In that book, the author had shown herself to be superbly talented and original and I expected just as much from this book. I think that I was slightly let down. Yes, it was a good book with a completely fresh premise, an extremely spunky and eccentric main character, and lots of nummy guys, but I just don't think that the whole execution of the story did it for me as much as I had wanted it to. Gretchen Yee was really the only character whose personality was really explored in depth. All of the other characters seemed like they were just kind of there for background. None of them seemed to have any depth or anything that would make me feel like they were real people. Also, the whole turning into a fly phenomenon was a tad random. I thought it was very cool how the totally unexpected thing happened, but it was never explained why or how. Also, I think there were quite a few loose ends at the end of the book and I just wasn't even interested in them being cleared up. I just didn't care. Ugh. I feel so bad putting down one of E. Lockhart's books. But I can give kudos for the fact that the book was very funny and unique. I was laughing and enjoying myself even as I was feeling disappointed. If that makes any sense... I also liked the whole feminist perspective of the book. I like it when any book has a strong female character and this book definitely had that, which was slightly redeeming. So overall, I think that Fly On The Wall was sort of a letdown of a book for me but I wouldn't go so far as to not recommend it. It still is worth your reading time, if only for the fantabulous sassiness of Gretchen Yee.

Violet on The Runway by Melissa Walker

Violet has been a wallflower for as long as she can remember. Her main goal for her senior year was to attract as little attention as possible which isn't as easy as it sounds when you're stick skinny and tower over everyone else. And then the one thing that Violet never expects to happen does. She's offered a chance to break into the biggest and most dramatic industry out there; modeling. After only a little bit of consideration, she jumps right in and feels like modeling is really her calling. Her popularity and status back at her high school skyrocket as does her career. In New York, they're always looking for the hot new face and Violet just happens to be the owner of that face. At first, everything seems to be going as planned, but as time goes on, Violet starts to realize that the nonstop scrutiny, partying, and self-conciousness are wearing her down. Will she be able to stay true to herself while doing the one thing that she felt she was meant to do?

I loved this book so much! The only thing I'm sad about is that I waited so long to read it. I've been hearing rave reviews about the Violet series and now that I finally got around to them, I have only good things to say...for the most part. I think the only thing that could be improved upon was the characterization. I felt like we didn't get to know some of the side characters as much as I would have liked. They all seemed interesting and I just wish that we got to see more of the characters than we did. Other than that, this book was truly delightful. Y0u have your totally realistic, understandable, and adorable main character who gets offered an opporunity that all of us would love to have. The plot is great, Violet is created beautifully, and all of the details and minor things about the modeling industry are accurate and entertaining. I haven't read a book before that went so in depth with the setting and background of the plot in a long time. It was cool to read about something fresh that I was completely clueless about. I'm not much of a fashion guru so I liked being able to hear more about that kind of stuff. Also, I liked the fact that the whole modeling world in the book wasn't the sugar-coated fairy princess industry that many people think it is. It was neat to be able to see that world from the inside out and actually get inside the heads of some of the people who are living in that separate universe. I am completely looking forward to reading the next book in the Violet series and I would highly recommend this book to anyone. It's enjoyable, cute, realistic, and engaging. It's got all of the elements that a good book needs! And to add to all of that, the author is a super nice and truly fantabulous lady! So I guess that means that you should go out and pick up your copy of Violet on The Runway ASAP.

Author Meme!

I was tagged by Ravenous Reader and Page Numbered
Rules: Link to the person that tagged you, post the rules somewhere in your meme, answer the questions, tag six people in your post, let the tagees know they’ve been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog, let the tagger know your entry is posted.

1. Who’s your all-time favorite author, and why?
Why do we have to start with the hardest question first? And although that is a really difficult question I think I can narrow it down to a few. I would say that Meg Cabot is the author whose books I have enjoyed the most because she has so many of them and if there were ones I didn't like, the good ones outweighed them. It's all a matter of my satisfaction average. Ha. I would also say Stephenie Meyer for obvious reasons. And John Green, not because of An Abundance of Katherines but for Looking For Alaska which was pretty much the best book ever. Ever. There are some other authors out there whose books I've thoroughly enjoyed, but I haven't read enough of their stuff to say that they're on my all-time favorite list. They're getting there though. Some of those guys are Siobhan Vivian, Richelle Mead, Gabrielle Zevin, Maureen Johnson, E. Lockhart, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Elizabeth Scott, and tons more. There are too many good authors out there.

2. Who was your first favorite author, and why? Do you still consider him or her among your favorites?
Marc Brown. He's the author of the Arthur series and those books are works of genius. Seriously, if you didn't enjoy Arthur as a kid there is something wrong with you. And they even made a TV show out of it too! What could be better? And no, I don't think he's one of my favorite authors now, because I read YA, not books about aardvarks.

3. Who’s the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why?
Probably Siobhan Vivian and Susan Beth Pfeffer and Jay Asher. Their books completely floored me and whenever any of them have a new book out, you can count on the fact that I will be the first in line to read it.

4. If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth? Are there any you’d add on a moment of further reflection?
Meg Cabot and Stephenie Meyer would pop out on reflex because everyone knows about them and their books. They are also spectacular authors. If I was talking to someone who was actually "in the know" with YA books, I would say Scott Westerfeld, John Green, Sarah Dessen, Siobhan Vivian, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Jay Asher, E. Lockhart, Catherine Ryan Hyde, Cherry Cheva, and about a bajillion others who would be added if I had enough time to think.

And I'm going to be completely lame and not tag anybody because I seriously can't find one person that hasn't been tagged yet. If I overlooked you and you haven't done this awesome meme yet, consider yourself tagged!